Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I hate wasting food. Especially sweets full of expensive ingredients like butter and (very) nice cocoa. So when the chocolate frosting I'd prepared for these cupcakes -- a buttercream I've made and adored a dozen times before -- looked gritty (?!) after refrigeration, this gal weren't happy.

All stops were pulled to smooth things out. The poor frosting was heated up and cooled down, more than once. Then my poor faithful mixer was pushed to its breaking point trying to whip it into shape. And I cajoled it with some gentle hand mixing too, not underestimating the power of some personal tender lovin' care.

But days of failed attempts later, I just wanted to pull out my hair and dump the whole thing. Happily, inspiration struck. I realized that this buttercream made simply out of butter, cocoa, powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream was practically a chocolate cake waiting to happen. Gently, I stirred in 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of flour, and pinches of salt and baking powder. Twenty to twenty-five minutes in the oven at 350 degrees F made the magic happen.

So now I offer you my Upcycled Chocolate Cake, and ask what creative ways have you come up with to prevent good food from going to waste?

My favorite "upcycled" dish is bread pudding. Take your stale half baguette, cut into chunks, whip up an egg or two with milk or heavy cream, add a bit of sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon, (and dried fruit if you have it) and mix it all up and bake until browned. Really, you could not find a more delicious dessert.

First off, so so happy to have found your blog!! Thank you for stopping by!Second, the wood for my table.....it was just whatever home depot sells.....I'm assuming pine?? I am seriously a wood dummy! I tested out the stain on the ends of the boards (we cut them a bit shorter) to try out different strengths and see what I liked best.

The longer you soak the steel wool, the redder the stain will be (because it will rust). And our table was actually very grey....until we put the sealant on it......but we had to seal it. Still happy with the color though.

I admire your creativity in coming up with a way to avoid waste, which I hate, hate, hate! I'm a regular lurker on a cooking forum and it kills me to read what a lot of them throw out just because it didn't come out perfect aesthetically but perfectly edible otherwise. Kudos to you and your cake looks yummy!

For the powered sugar, do you use a brand name or store bought? Powdered sugar made from sugar beets behaves differently than cane sugar, and if you are not buying a specifically cane sugar brand, you might be getting a mixture. Or, store brands can alternate, so what might work for several months will all of a sudden feel gritty when they switch from cane to beet.